Review: Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

July 2, 2020 | Published by Penguin Australia, available now. RRP $32.99 Trade paperback

For an outrageous, modern update on A Room with a View by EM Forster In SEX AND VANITY, Kevin Kwan has delivered the perfect antidote to travel restrictions, lockdowns and 2020 blues. Lucie Churchill travels to Capri to attend a glittering society wedding and meets George, a mysterious fello...

Review: Love and Other Battles by Tess Woods

June 16, 2019 | Love and Other Battles in published by Harper Collins. Available 17 June RRP $32.99

Earlier this week I’d been lucky enough to receive a copy of Tess Woods’ new novel LOVE AND OTHER BATTLES in the mail. If you’ve never read one of her books ( LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT,  BEAUTIFUL MESSY LOVE) you are missing out, they’re fabulous, and you wouldn’t appreciate how much restr...

Review: Starcrossed by Minnie Darke

March 13, 2019 | Starcrossed by Minnie Darke is published by Penguin and is available now. RRP $32.99 (trade paperback).

Marian Keyes meets Love Actually in this fresh, funny and gloriously romantic Australian novel that has sold all around the world. I read the first chapter of this book as soon as it arrived and didn’t want to stop. Alas, I have a job that pays the bills where they annoyingly do not allow me to...

Review: One Day in December by Josie Silver

February 18, 2019 | One Day in December by Josie Silver is published by Viking (paperback) RRP $19.99 and Penguin (ebook)

This was my first read of the new year. At the time I was in Europe visiting family and about a few days out from travelling to London (and reading on my e-reader). I always hope to catch snow when I am in London in Winter and this made the setting of ONE DAY IN DECEMBER even more appealing, it ...

Review: The Girl on the Page by John Purcell

November 2, 2018 | GIRL ON THE PAGE by John Purcell is published by Harper Collins and is available now. RRP $32.99

Often when I sit down to write a review of a great book, I am faced with a dilemma; how do I capture the essence of this fabulous book and do the book justice, in just a few words. I mean, this is a novel after all, and those thousands of words have built upon each other. I don’t have that spa...

Review: How To Be Perfect By Holly Wainwright

August 29, 2018 | How To Be Perfect by Holly Wainwright is published by Allen and Unwin. RRP $29.99, available now.

If you thought that Elle Campbell would slink off into the night at the end of THE MUMMY BLOGGERS, think again! HOW TO BE PERFECT, the second novel from Holly Wainwright, picks up and charges forward into the modern cult of self-improvement and social media Elle has schemed her way into a new...

Review: THE DESERT NURSE by Pamela Hart

July 26, 2018 | THE DESERT NURSE by Pamela Hart is published by Hachette. RRPTrade $29.99, ebook$9.99, audio $44.99. Available now.

THE DESERT NURSE is an epic tale set in wartime Egypt. Readers of Hart’s previous three wartime historical novels will really enjoy the links between the books. (The Soldier's Wife, The War Bride, A Letter From Italy) Don’t feel you have to read those first, though. This book will stand on i...

Review: BLUEBOTTLE by Belinda Castles

July 18, 2018 | Bluebottle by Belinda Castles is published by Allen and Unwin. RRP $29.99, available now.

    When I first started to read Bluebottle, by Belinda Castles, the first thing that struck me was the strong sense of place. Set in the northern beaches suburbs of Sydney, the novel begins, There was a house on a honeycomb cliff above the Pacific, perched over a beach in air a...

Review: The Love That I Have by James Moloney

June 7, 2018 | The Love That I Have by James Moloney is published by Harper Collins. RRP $27.99

When I received book mail this week, I opened my parcel to discover a copy of THE LOVE THAT I HAVE by James Moloney inside. It’s always such a thrill to receive a book, and I cracked it open in an excited rush, intending to read the first few pages and then move on to other work. But this nove...

Review: P is For Pearl by Eliza Henry-Jones

April 19, 2018 | P is for Pearl is published by Harper Collins and is available now. RRP $19.99

From the talented author of the celebrated novels In the Quiet and Ache comes a poignant and moving book that explores the stories we tell ourselves about our families, and what it means to belong. A random but violent accident at the café where Gwendolyn Pearson works after school trigg...

© 2015 Melissa Sargent